No more than 10 restaurants in Shenzhen are highlighting "hot and spicy crabs", formerly the featured dish of at least 300 restaurants in its heyday, says Daily Sunshine.

The Sichuan-style dish was all the rage in the city about a year ago, with queues regularly seen outside many restaurants at dinner time on weekends.

Several establishments scrambled to incorporate the phrase "hot and spicy crabs" into their names as well, but most have already changed them again.

The rise and fall of "hot and spicy crabs" was typical of Shenzhen's dining industry, said Miao, a manager at Traditional Hot and Spicy Crabs - a restaurant famed for the dish and still enjoying a booming business.

Smaller restaurants do not build their own brands but attempt to make a quick buck by following the latest trend.

"They are doomed, however, by fierce competition," she said.

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